The Reunion
by TheHildur92
Summary: Reid returns to the BAU after an absence of ten years. Hotch is happy to have his former lover back and hopes they can resume their relationship. However, all is not as it seems. Why has Reid returned? Where has he been for a decade? What will the consequences be when the genius asks Hotch to aid him on a case? Established Reid/Hotch.
1. Chapter 1

_A shadow loomed over in my doorway and fell onto my desk where I was finishing the paperwork for the case we had closed that same day. It had been a relatively boring case with some teenage girl who decided to go on a killing spree but was easy to catch due to the fact she posted all she did on social media. After a few murders, we managed to establish a pattern and ambushed her as she was stalking her latest victim._

" _What the hell do you want?" I demanded without looking up. I expected the silky voice of Morgan or the nervous chatter of Garcia, calling me sir and extending her deepest apologies for the interruption. I even considered it might be Rossi, with a bottle of scotch and two glasses, to celebrate us putting another lowlife behind bars. Instead, I received no answer and only then did I look up._

 _I had to blink twice to ensure my eyes were deceving me. In the doorway stood a familiar figure with hypnotizing brown eyes I had gazed into several times before. I noted quickly with the detective skills I had acquired as a profiler that he had gained some weight, seemed to have more muscle. Gone were the corduroys and Converse shoes. Instead he wore an acutal black tailored suit, with a white shirt and red tie. He looked handsome with his brown hair cut short and combed back._

 _Without further parley, I ran up to him and enveloped him into my embrace. He didn´t return the gesture, his hands stayed stiff by his sides, but he didn´t push me away either. For a long time, I refused to let him go, thinking he was merely an illusion of my own imagination and he would soon evaporate into thin air right in front of my very eyes._

 _I finally pulled away and gestured for him to come into my office before shutting the door. He did as requested and stood awkwardly on the middle of my floor. He looked stangely foreign and out of place where he had once belonged._

" _How are you, Aaron?"_

 _I sat down on my desk and invited him to sit in one of the chairs in front of me but he remained standing. "You never called me Aaron before."_

" _Things change," Reid supplied quickly._

" _You´ve changed," I replied, knowing that had been his actual meaning._

" _I have been gone for ten years, Hotch. You hardly expected me to remain the same for a decade?"_

 _An image flew through my head of the awkward boy I had once known. When my answer arrived, it was prompt and short._

" _Yes, I did."_


	2. Chapter 2

_Ten years earlier_

 _Reid POV_

 _I arise from the bed and by the light of the rising moon, I begin to gather my clothes lying hither and thither on the floor after our love-making and pull them on._

 _For weeks now, I have been planning my departure, going through the motions and making the necessary preparations without Hotch´s suspicions being aroused. As I pull on my boots I tell myself that this is hardly the time to second-guess myself, to doubt the decision I made two months ago. Therefore, resolutetly I go through the motions, dressing silently without waking my sleeping boss and head for the walk in closet where I stored my backpack last night, when I decided tonight would be the night I would leave._

 _It takes me some time to find the pack again, since I shoved it behind mountains of clothes and shoes to ensure Hotch would not find it. I can´t risk him finding out. He might try and stop me, to convince me to stay. Under such heartfelt entreaties, I would relent all too easily, endangering both myself and him. That is a risk I cannot take._

 _I am prepared to leave as I sling the pack over one shoulder and plan to walk out the door without glancing back. An ottoman situated in the middle of the bedroom floor apparently has other plans because with Reid-like grace, I trip over it and fall headlong onto the floor. Thankfully, the floor is carpeted and only a small thump is heard as the pack and I hit the floor. I get up quickly and look towards the bed, holding my breath that Hotch didn´t wake up. He didn´t, but I forgot to draw the curtain and soft moonlight falls upon the bed. In this light, the harsh features I have come to know and love seem almost ethereal, not of this world._

 _Resistance is futile and therefore I walk to the bed and sit on the edge, close to where Hotch is sleeping. I commit every feature, every scar, every mole to memory so that I can recollect it when faced with difficulties in the future. I reach out and my long fingers stroke away an errant lock of black hair which has fallen into his face. Like this, he seems innocent, peaceful. I am glad that once in a while, he has gazed upon me with love. Even someone like Hotch who has seen true evil, deserves to forget that once in a while and just exist. He has never told me so, but I am certain he loves me. To someone like me, that means everything._

 _I lean down and join my lips with his for the last time. When I pull back, I am startled to realize Hotch´s brown eyes are open. I fear his reaction should his gaze fall to the floor where my pack lies. After a moment I note he is still half-asleep. "Love you, Reid," he whispers to the darkness before turning on his side and falling promptly back asleep._

" _I love you too, Hotch." My confession of love goes unheard by anyone apart from myself. I arise from the bed, grab my pack and head for the bedroom door._

 _Once I am in the kitchen, I head to the cupboards and grab a banana, yoghurt and some other things which are good for snacks. I am certain I shall be on the move for most of the day and even though my stomach keeps churning, I need to keep up my strength. I put the food into the backpack and after a final look over the apartment where I have been happy for such a long time, I turn to the front door._

 _My hands stops on the knob and I turn to face the bedroom door which can be seen from where I am standing. I know all I need to do is turn and reenter the bedroom and this will all seem like a vivid nightmare and nothing more. Everything I could ever want is in the next room. Hotch doesn´t know yet that I have left, he never will if I crawl back into bed. By doing this, I can spare myself and him a lifetime of agony. The thought of this pain does not change my resolution, instead it forces me to open the door and pass outside, leaving my keys on the coffee table._

 _The stars twinkle in the sky above me as I pass underneath a lamppost which turns off its light as I walk past it. A dog barks in the distance._


	3. Chapter 3

_I awakened out of my reverie about the boy I knew to the man that sat before me. A question was on the edge of my mind, one that had haunted me for the past decade. Now I finally had the chance to get my answers. It came out harsher than I had planned and my words sounded accusatory. "Where have you been for the last ten years?"_

 _"Does it matter?" came the abrupt reply, but for the first time since he entered my office, Reid seemed rattled. Now, it was his turn to ask a question which caught me off guard. "Did you marry Beth?"_

 _I decided to be candid with the man in front of me as well as myself. "No. After you left I broke up with her. I could no longer deceive her or myself, for that matter."_

 _Reid nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. "Good. You owed Beth and Hayley more then using them as your beards. You owed me more." He and I both knew that there had been more to my relationships with my deceased wife and ex-girlfriend than as mere puppets to be strung along at my will. In my own way I had loved both women, Hayley especially. She was the mother of my son, my wife for several years. I had been crushed with grief and guilt when she died. Yet, I decided to give Reid the benefit of the doubt, seeing as I had not treated any of my lovers back then with the respect due to them._

 _It took me a moment to choose my words and I ran my fingers through my hair as I searched for them. It had taken me a long time after his departure to understand my own feelings, but now I was prepared to acknowledge the impropriety of my own conduct. "Reid, I was a stupid, naive, son of a bitch. I convinced myself I felt nothing for you apart from blind, maddening lust."_

 _"Good, at least we have that cleared up." Reid arose from the chair, turned and looked as if he was planning on walking out the door and never returning._

 _I had no intention of allowing him to walk out of my life again that easily._

 _I grabbed his arm and forcefully turned him around and forced him to face me. "Listen to me. I´ve never felt that way about anyone before, not even Hayley." I moved my hand to his shoulders and grasped them tightly. "I didn´t know how to deal with my feelings for you because they scared the hell outta me. With someone else at my side, I had a reason for not committing to you, not fulfilling my promises."_

 _Reid frowned and squinted in that adorable manner I could remember all too vividly. "What exactly are your feelings towards me?" It came out sounding strangely very much like an interrogation._

 _Even now, I found it difficult to discuss the true depths of my feelings for him, being unused to such conversation, and I could not reveal my own hand before I had seen Reid´s. All I could manage was a partial confession. "It´s been hell since you left."_

 _Reid stepped forward and leaned in to rest his forehead against mine, as if he wanted to reassure me he understood. "I know."_

 _We stayed like this for a long time, afraid to break the sanctity of the moment._


	4. Chapter 4

_We sit across from each other at the restaurant located not far from the office. The silence reigns like a tyrant between us as we gaze at our menues, talk to the waiter and he brings us two glasses of red wine._

 _I take a long drag from mine before gazing over at my former lover. "I guess you are here for a reason which does not involve returning to me after all these years. You might as well tell me now."_

" _I have a stalker." Reid had always had the knack to get right into the heart of a subject when necessary._

" _Then I recommend the police," I countered cuttingly._

" _It´s complicated," countered Reid. "I´m not even sure whether it is a stange series of coincidences, whether I am being paranoid or if someone dangerous is hiding in the shadows, waiting for a perfect moment to strike."_

" _Tell me."_

 _The waiter brought our food and I dug in ravenously, while Reid merely pushed his around on his plate with the fork._

" _The first incidents occurred in such a way that I hardly paid them any mind," Reid began after giving up the pretension of eating. "I would discover that a letter or two went missing from my mailbox. I never thought much of it, and put it down to problems at my local post office."_

" _Sounds reasonable enough," I responded with my mouth full of lamb steak._

" _Yes, on its own this is not of any significance. I noted some time later that things in my flat would be moved around and weren´t where I left them. The book I was reading would be in the fridge, I could no longer in the morning find the lunch I had packed the evening before. The coffee would be done when I had bought some three days earlier. My...roommate would deny all wrongdoings and besides, it isn´t really in his nature to play such mindgames."_

" _And you think someone else is?" I was finally intrigued enough to put down my fork and listen attentively._

" _Yes," Reid replied as he gazed deeply into my eyes. "Then there were the mysterious phone calls in the middle of the night when the phone would ring endlessly but the person would hang up when I answered. Let´s not forget the flowers delivered to me two weeks ago, but nobody I know will admit to the gesture. The weirdest thing happened last week..."_

" _Reid," I said softly, my eyes searching for his as they darted about. "I´m still here for you. Nothing´s changed."_

" _Everything´s changed," Reid shot back. "Don´t sit there and pretend it hasn´t."_

" _Why should I when you are doing such an exceptional job of it?" It was as if the years we had shared together had evaporated from Reid´s mind. He no longer seemed to remember the images which were so vivid in my mind. They played endlessly before my eyes like a movie without a sound._

 _Reid didn´t answer my question, instead he told me about the last incident. One morning he had been alone in the apartment after his roommate had already gone to work, and when he woke up there was a picture of him sleeping on the nightstand, propped up against the lamp. It had freaked him out beyond all measure and sent him running to me._

" _You came running to me even after all these years?"_

 _His brown eyes finally fixed on mine. "Yes."_

" _Why?" Out of his new stubborness, he seemed to not want to answer my question. I leaned back in my chair. "Some things have not changed after all."_

" _I miss you," Reid finally confessed and allowed his hand to rest on the table, moving it towards me._

" _I missed you too," I replied as I reached out to take his hand and join it with my own. For a moment, it was as if nothing had changed. The world faded away and it was just me and him._

 _That is until the phone rang._

 _Reid reached into his pocket and answered. He arose from his chair and walked away, but not before I heard him say; "Hi babe, yeah, I miss you too. Sorry, I´ve been too swamped to call..." No doubt he thought the noise around us would drown out his words._

 _After a few minutes, Reid returned. I glared at him and before he could take his seat, I asked; "Was that your roommate?"_


End file.
